THE KING’ S BUSINESS
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we know it is frequently discussed today. New let us not be afraid o f that word “ Criticism.” A man was going up a hill in a Scottish mist and saw a great figure in front o f him. He was terribly fright ened; but when he got close to it, it was his brother. There are three kinds o f crit icism, and if these three are carefully kept together we need have no fear. The first is what is called Lower Crit icism. That is the technical word descrip tive o f the criticism which provides a text and a translation. W e depend upon scholar ship for these. W e may not know Greek and Hebrew. W e take our text from schol ars and also their translation. That, is the lower or the lowest criticism, legitimate, important, and o f course absolutely essen tial ; and for all practical purposes either the Authorized or Revised Version does give us a substantial idea o f the original text. Then, secondly, there is what is called the Higher Criticism. This has to do with the authorship, date, and character o f the books; and again it is legitimate, vital, and essential, only it requires to be tested. Let us not call any man master, whether ancient or modern, English or German. Let us simply hold ourselves free to look at these things for ourselves.. A young man in col lege once said to me: “ How is it that so many clever men accept certain views ?” “Why,” I said, “there is a fashion in schol arship as well as in socks, and as a rule no one likes to be out o f fashion in one or the other.” There is a fashion in phil osophical thought, in fiction, and indeed in literature generally. Everybody just now is trying to show an interest in the Waverly Novels, because o f the recent centenary. They must be in the ' fashion. What I mean is, that we must not merely follow a fashion, but test things for ourselves, and get the theory that best fits all the facts. There are four ways in which you can test this Old Testament criticism: First, by the history o f the Jewish nation and the Old Testament account. Second, you can test it by archaeology, and you will find that, during the last sixty years, not a single
discovery has done anything except confirm the Old Testament. Third, you can exam ine the books yourself, and you will find thirty times in Leviticus that “the Lord spake unto Moses.” And if you look in Deuteronomy you will find it implies, if not mosaic authorship, at least the period of Moses. Then remember our Lord and His Apostles, and how much they valued the Old Testament, and I think you will find that with these four tests it will not be diffi cult to come to a satisfactory, conclusion about Old Testament criticism. But there is a third aspect, the Highest Criticism. It is sometimes overlooked. Here it is : “To this man will I look, even to the man who is o f a contrite spirit and tremb- leth gt my word.” I now refer to the criticism o f the humble soul. You will find that text in Isa. 64:2. Notice also another text, Heb. 4:12, “ The word of God is a ‘critic’ of the thoughts and intents o f the heart.” I f the soul of”man will allow God’s W ord to criticise it, and if we do a little more trembling at God’s Word, that would be. the highest criticism, and provide a cri terion that would settle almost everything for us. This is the trouble, that people take the lower and the higher criticism, but for get the third, the highest. Yet on the other hand there are numbers of humble souls who know far more o f the truth o f Scrip ture than the greatest scholars. As James Hamilton once said:. “A Christian on his knees sees farther than a philosopher on his tip-toes.” When these three are held together I have no fear about criticism. If you want to appreciate the pictures on stained-glass windows, you must go inside the church; and if you want to know the Bible, you must go inside, and not judge from the outside. Nor with reason only, but with conscience, and heart, and soul, and w ill; * and when the whole nature responds to the highest criticism, rationalis ing critical theories can go on until dooms
day without doing any harm. VII. The Work of the Bible.
What does the Bible do? We are now coming to more personal matters. I can
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